Increased awareness of the benefits attributable to a diet rich in essential nutrients and vitamins have resulted in food processors enriching a variety of food products such as breakfast cereals, breads, milk and juices. The present invention is a twist on this goal by fortifying a beverage that normally does not contribute nutrients to the diet.
Coffee is a widely consumed beverage that provides negligible nutritional support to the consumer. However, it is the primary source of caffeine used by many individuals as their morning stimulant. Caffeine also acts as a diuretic. Consequently, while the consumer is waking up with their morning coffee, the caffeine is flushing water-soluble vitamins from the body faster than usual.
There has been a rise in consumption of all the special blend, full bodied, dark roasted coffees. While the calorie and fat content of these special blends remain negligible, the specialty coffees have less caffeine than the coffee made from cans of regular coffee bought at the supermarket. This is due to the type of beans used for the specialty coffees. The specialty coffees are made from arabica beans that impart a stronger taste but less caffeine than the robusta beans incorporated into the coffee such as Folger's and Maxwell House. In addition the process of dark roasting the coffee beans burns off more caffeine than the light roasting of beans in most supermarket varieties. Caffeine content of coffee from different sources are listed in Table 1. For example, a five-ounce cup of drip coffee contains 110 to 150 milligrams of caffeine depending on how strong it is made. A six ounce cup of Starbuck's coffee has only 81 milligrams of caffeine. The caffeine content of plain espresso is less than a five ounce cup of drip coffee. Latte, mocha drinks and cappuccino are made with a shot of espresso. Consequently the caffeine content of the specialty drinks are also lower than drip coffee.
Variations on a cup of black coffee such as cappuccino, latte, espresso, cafe mocha have become very popular. While the caffeine contents of these specialty drinks are lower than drip coffee, these variations add hidden calories and fat to the coffee beverage. All of the specialty drinks mentioned above start with Espresso which is made from the arabica beans but is brewed with less water. Lafte is espresso diluted with steamed milk topped with frothed milk. Mocha drinks generally contain espresso, less steamed milk than a latte, an ounce or two of mocha or chocolate syrup, and topped with frothed milk. Cappuccino is made with espresso, less steamed milk than a mocha, and a large foam cap frothed from another couple of ounces of milk.
These specialty coffee beverages are replacing the high calorie and high fat snack items in an individuals diet. However, many specialty coffee beverages are made with enough milk and syrup to equal or exceed the fat and calories in traditional desserts. For example, a large Cafe Mocha from Starbucks made with whole milk contains 409 calories and 31 grams of fat. Add whipped cream and the total calories approach 500 calories with 40 grams of fat. Mocha beverages tend to have the most fat and calories in all the gourmet coffee shops, in part because they contain larger quantities of milk and one to two ounces of chocolate syrup. A latte from The Coffee Beanery made with whole milk and topped wvith whipped cream and grated milk chocolate supplies 350 calories and 20 grams of fat. As for cappuccino, it tends to run relatively low in calories and fat as long as whipped cream is not added. A large cappuccino at Au Bon Pain made with 2% fat milk has 156 calories and 6 grams of fat. An added shot of hazelnut, vanilla or some other type of syrup to any of the specialty coffee beverages can add at least another 40 calories. Putting whipped cream on top of any coffee beverage will add in the neighborhood of 60 calories and 5 grams of fat. The fat content in all these specialty coffee beverages can be decreased by making the coffee beverage with skim milk instead of whole or 2% fat milk. Table 1 compares the caffeine, calories and fat content of coffee beverages made with skim, 2% or whole milk from different sources.
TABLE 1 Caffeine, Calorie and Fat Content of Coffee Beverages from Different Sources Caffeine Calories Fat (g) Coffee Beverage (mg) (skim/2%/whole milk) (skim/2%/whole milk) Coffee, black Dunkin' Donuts (8 oz) 104 McDonald's (6 oz) 60 Starbucks (5.8 oz) 81 Au Bon Pain (9 oz) 171 Instant, Decaf (6 oz) 2 Espresso Starbucks (0.7 oz) 57 Au Bon Pain (2.6 oz) 130 Gloria Jean's Coffee Bean (2.7 oz) 51 Cappuccino Starbucks (8 oz) 57 57/79/99 0/3/5 Au Bon Pain (10 oz) 65 71/99 0/4 Gloria Jean's Coffee Bean (8 oz) 51 68 3 Latte Starbucks (8 oz) 57 68/90/114 1/4/6 Au Bon Pain (10 oz) 65 81/113 0/5 Gloria Jean's Coffee Bean (8 oz) 51 76 3 Cafe Mocha Starbucks (8 oz) 57 156/175/195 11/13/15 Au Bon Pain (10 oz) 65 120/153 1/5 Gloria Jean's Coffee Bean (8 oz) 51 222 4 Cold Coffee beverages Starbucks 57 201/235/271 11/16/19 Iced Cafe Mocha (12 oz) Au Bon Pain 130 180/221 1/6 Iced Mocha Blast (16 oz) Gloria Jean's Coffee Bean Iced 51 282 6 Mocha (12 oz)
As more consumers add these specialty coffee beverages to their diets, a class of instant coffee powders, such as Maxwell House's Cappuccino Mocha and a growing variety of General Food's International Coffees, have become popular for at home use. Additionally, these instant coffee drinks may be purchased at convenience stores from hot beverage dispensers. Table 2 describes the total calories, fat, protein, carbohydrate and vitamin/mineral fortification of commercially available instant coffee powders.
The low fat fortified coffee drink of this invention improves upon the instant coffee powders purchased at supermarket stores or the coffee drinks purchased from hot beverage dispensers in convenience stores by providing 19 vitamins and minerals, and supplemental protein in a low fat instant flavored coffee drink.
TABLE 2 Instant Coffee Drinks Pro- Carbo- Coffee Drink Fat tein hydrates Vit./Min. (powder serving, fl. oz) Cal. (gm) (gm) (gm) (% RDI) General Foods 60 2 &lt;1 10 none International Coffees Italian Cappuccino (13 gm, 8 fl. oz) Maxwell House 100 2.5 2 17 Calcium 8 Cappuccino Coffee (23 gm, 8 fl. oz.) Superior Cappuccino 70 2.5 &lt;1 11 Vit. C 4 (16 gm, 8 fl. oz.) Calcium 2
Conventional dry mix instant hot cappuccino compositions include a coffee component, a foaming creamer component, and optional sweetener, flavor, color and foam stabilizer components. The compositions are normally provided as a particulate powder or granular composition. A hot cappuccino drink is prepared by dissolving the instant cappuccino composition in a hot liquid such as hot water or hot milk. Sweetener, if not present in the composition, is normally added when the beverage is prepared. As described above, hot cappuccino beverages have a substantial and characteristic foam on the top surface of the beverage. In the case of a brewed cappuccino, the foam is usually provided by steamed milk. In an instant cappuccino product, the foam is provided by a particulate dry mix foaming creamer that may be of the dairy or nondairy type. The foaming creamers have a gas incorporated in the matrix that is incorporated into the creamer during its preparation. The amount of foam produced by the creamer depends on the amount of gas that is incorporated into the creamer. However, there is a limit to the amount of gas that can be incorporated into a creamer before the foam is destabilized.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,003 to Zeller discloses a particulate dry mix foaming creamer that does not require incorporation of a gas. The instant dry mix hot cappuccino product composition comprises a water soluble coffee component, a foam generating component, an optional creamer and sweetener component. The coffee component is from 0.75 to 5 grams per serving. The dry mix foaming creamer comprises a creamer and a foam generating component comprising gluconolactone and an alkali metal carbonate or bicarbonate. The carbonate or bicarbonate are present in an amount of from 1 to 10% by weight based on the weight of the creamer. The gluconolactone is present in an amount of from 1 to 35% by weight based on the weight of the creamer. The sweetener component is in an amount equivalent to from 1 to 20 parts by weight of sucrose per part by weight of the coffee component. The cappuccino beverage is prepared by mixing milk or water with the dry mix composition and heating.
At the other end of the spectrum from retail instant coffee drinks are institutional coffee flavored complete nutritional beverages. For example, coffee flavored ENSURE distributed by Ross Products a Division of Abbott Laboratories and an institutional product distributed by Clintec Nutrition from Nestle & Baxter under the trade name NuBasics. Coffee flavored ENSURE provides 250 calories in 8 fl. oz. The protein (9 gm) provides 12% of total calories, carbohydrate (40 gm) provides 64% of total calories, fat (6 gm) provides 22% of the total calories and the vitamins and minerals are fortified at 30% of the RDI. NuBasics is labeled as providing 3 grams of fat, 19 grams of carbohydrate and 6 grams of protein in 130 calories. The vitamins and minerals are listed as providing from 6% to 15% of the RDI with vitamin C and B6 listed at 35% and 20% of the RDI, respectively. NuBasics uses decaffeinated coffee as a flavoring, while Ensure uses a natural and artificial coffee flavoring to achieve the final coffee flavor.
AU A 70413/96 to J. Burri, et al., discloses a powdered nutritional composition that when reconstituted in water provides a complete, nutritionally balanced coffee drink. The nutritional composition is an agglomerated powder formed of soluble coffee powder, a protein component, a carbohydrate component and a lipid component. The protein component provides about 16% to 30% of calories. The carbohydrate provides about 40% to 60% of calories, the lipid component provides 15% to 33% of calories. The nutritional composition readily dissolves in hot water to provide a beverage that looks and tastes like black coffee which may be administered to a patient in need of nutritional support, particularly elderly and long-term care patients.
Other prior art fortifies the coffee beans or grounds with water soluble vitamins. WO 96/14757 to S. Rich describes a method to vitamin enrich coffee by blending powdered water soluble vitamins with ground coffee beans to form a homogeneous blend suitable for brewing. Alternatively, coffee beans are rinsed with water soluble vitamin-containing solution and allowed to dry. The vitamin carrying beans are then ground and brewed in the conventional manner.
The use of hot coffee, tea and soup as carriers of pharmaceutical actives is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,522 to M. Shah. The beverage concentrate is suitable for delivering orally administrable pharmaceutical actives. The beverage concentrate contains an instant food, the pharmaceutical active and sweetening and flavoring agents. The pharmaceutical actives are selected form the group consisting of antitussives, expectorants, antihistamines, sympathomimetics, laxatives, antidiarrheals, and mixtures thereof. The concentrate produces a pleasant tasting beverage when dissolved in hot water.
The increased consumption of instant coffee drinks has resulted in the addition of excess calories and fat to the diet of consumers. There is need for a convenient, good tasting, healthy alternative to coffee drinks. The fortified coffee drink of this invention provides a good tasting, low fat, vitamin and mineral fortified coffee drink that may be prepared at home or purchased from hot beverage dispenser machines in convenience stores.